By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
As the basketball season draws to an end in New Mexico and Colorado both New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) and the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA), the governing bodies for high school sports in each state, grapple with a shortage of referees and the problem isn’t just isolated to our two states as a recent MaxPreps article by John Davidson notes it is affecting the entire country.
According to the article it’s not just fans but coaches too that are throwing the abuses around. The article notes that referees and officials are not only hearing the verbal abuses but some are even reporting physical threats. According to the National Association of Sports Officials 80% of referees/officials walk away from their craft. And why not as official’s pay ranges from $35 to $65 a game. The article indicates that 75% of the officials surveyed cite adult behavior as the reason for their exit. Another issue is the age of referees, most are over 60 with far fewer 30 or under making it difficult to bring in new bodies.Not to mention the many hours of training and testing that goes into being a referee.
Both organizations have had to step in and reprimand fans/parents for their behavior. In Estancia NMAA wrote a letter to the school and warned that if the fans didn’t change their behavior the winning season would be marred with empty stands as fans/parents would be banned from the games. The school noted that if fans were banned it could cost the school upwards of $10,000 in lost revenues. Its only hurting the kids!
In Trinidad CHSAA met with school administrators, athletes and fan/parents about conduct at games. According to CHSAA officials who have officiated games at Trinidad High are requesting not to officiate games theredue to verbal abuses they have experienced in the past. CHSAA’s Tom Robinson stressed the need for sportsmanship and respect at games. Robinson noted “We want fans to cheer, to be loud, and clap; but be respectful, and don’t make it personal against officials. Don’t take it out of the building after a game ends.”(World Journal Article January 17, 2019, How you play the game, and how to attend it)
This reporter has also seen the abuses first hand, most recently a parent was ejected from a Raton West Las Vegas game in Raton for verbal abuse of the officiating staff. More recently at a playoff game in Maxwell where a coach was seen jumping and yelling at one referee as he ran back and forth on the floor because of what the coach saw as a bad call. Is this the kind of behavior that we want to teach our athletes? Governing organizations around the country are promoting the message victory with honor to try and stem the behavior. From the MaxPreps article “In that effort, National Federation of State High School Association’s Karissa Niehoff has teamed with state commissioners across the land to share this message to parents: Cool it.”
While parents are always pushing to have the best for their kids, they should also know that they need to teach sportsmanship and respect. There is one quote in the MaxPreps article that sums things up pretty well from Kentucky High School Athletic Association Commissioner Julian Tackett, “This is a game played by imperfect humans, coached by imperfect humans and officiated by imperfect humans.” Think before you speak!
